It’s been years since I first saw a cartoon series about a sea sponge, shaped like a kitchen sponge (“Western Animation”, nd), called Spongebob Squarepants. It tells the daily life of SpongeBob and his friends, namely Patrick Star, Squidward Tentacles and Mr. Krabs, who live in a city under the sea called Bikini Bottom. Even though I’m now at an age where it seems “inappropriate” to watch a cartoon like that, my parents often say in a humorous tone, I really can’t take my eyes off it every time it airs on TV. It is, perhaps, the clear and beautiful view of Bikini Bottom that prevents me from getting bored of watching that movie. Despite the same episodes being played over and over again, the movie serves as an alternative TV show in the morning when there are no other interesting shows to watch.

Along with my interest in the Spongebob Squarepants cartoon series, my interest in human characters was growing. I spent some time reading a book on human personalities titled “Personality Plus” written by Florence Littauer (1992) and observed the character and uniqueness of the people around me based on what I had read. According to Littauer (1992), every human being comprises four basic characters like this: Sanguineous, Choleric, Melancholic and Phlegmatic. Each of these characters brings their own unique values ​​that cannot be found in the others.

Then, one day, a question arose in my mind: Can the characters of SpongeBob and his friends in the cartoon series be classified into the four characters proposed by Littauer? I thought about it carefully, in my free time, and finally managed to find the answer: Yes, the characters of SpongeBob and his friends can be classified in the basic characters of Littauer. Through this article, I will show you how the ranking is done, followed by some examples from the episodes.

Spongebob Squarepants, the protagonist of the series, represents the character of Sanguine. He is characterized by attitudes in which he is always happy, energetic and optimistic regarding his life and work at Krusty Krab, a local fast food restaurant owned by Mr. Krabs, although he is only paid with a small amount of money. money. He likes to talk, tell stories and make a lot of jokes, some of the main characteristics of a Sanguini person. However, this talkative behavior sometimes alienates him from people; in the extreme case, once the Flying Dutchman sea ghost captured him, and only 30 seconds later he released him as he got bored with his story.

Patrick Star, SpongeBob’s best friend (best friends forever), is the best representation of a phlegmatic boy. He never cares much for his life. He spends most of his days playing with his best friend, sleeping in his house, a big rock in a half circle, and standing across the street, doing nothing. In one episode, he is awarded “longest out of work sea creature among others” for these unique characteristics, which is in contrast to SpongeBob who is awarded tons of awards. He never says no to SpongeBob’s invitation to play with the jellyfish.

Then the representation of the character Melancholic can be found in Squidward Tentacles. Passion for perfection, lover of art, high demand for life with excellent quality and pessimism in most of the time of life, all are parts of the character, they are observable in Squidward’s life. It can be seen in the episodes of the series that whenever he finishes his work at the Krusty Krab, he spends most of the day making sculptures of himself and playing his flute. He also dreams of a perfect and richer life, away from the fun and childish life as SpongeBob and Patrick always showed. Perhaps it is that dream that makes him endlessly jealous of his rival Squilliam Fancyson, a squid-like upper-class citizen in the city.

Finally, in the life of Mr. Krabs there is obviously a choleric character, a born leader and profit-oriented. As mentioned, Mr. Krabs owns a local fast food restaurant in town. However, his main concern is his customers’ money and how he can get more and more money with poor customer service. One episode shows how he wants to attract the attention of children to order food from his restaurant at the beginning of summer vacation by building a playground called “Krabby Land”. However, the playground is not as expected by the children; it is full of play equipment that is made of broken woods and irons, which are surely dangerous for them. As a born leader, he likes to order things to his two loyal employees, namely SpongeBob as a cook and Squidward as a cashier. When they make even a small mistake, he gets upset easily, especially when it comes to money.

This article discusses the classification of characters in the Spongebob Squarepants cartoon series based on Littauer’s four basic human characters. It’s interesting to see that the different characters between them can lead to interesting stories, another reason why the enjoyment of watching is still there. The weaknesses of those characters can create funny and sometimes “silly” conflicts between them. I put the word “fool” in quotes to show that for the most part in our lives we have conflicts that are really unnecessary. They are just a matter of different perspectives between one character and the other. It is hoped that a good understanding of each of the characters will spare us from such conflicts and focus us on bigger challenges that we must face together.